Chapter 49
RUMBLE!!! RUMBLE!!!
At first no-one moves, their brains unable to make sense of the input from their ears and feet. The ground is moving and the noise is like extended thunder only worse because the vibrations are coming from below. Rocks started to fall from the wall inside the volcano. Then all of a sudden one by one the villagers walked like mindless beings into the crater's edge and falling to their deaths without a word of fear or remorse.
These bizarre events made Shin Jiao and the rest feel that there is something strange about the sudden earthquake and the seemingly imminent eruption of the volcano. The thing is that there is no smoke coming out from the throat of the volcano.
"Shin Jiao, what's going on?" Qin Lou asked him as confusion and panic is evident in her voice.
Susu Ling's face is far more obvious in her reaction, they may be in the gold core realm but right now they are as weak as mortals and unable to use any spiritual Qi to protect their bodies. This situation is truly a scary thing for her. So without thinking she suddenly ran towards Qin Lou and hugs her, while her body shook in fear.
"I feel that there is something wrong here. You two hurry and go down the mountain, I'll be right behind you." Shin Jiao said as he stood up with Lemy in his arms.
But before they could move a great pressure suddenly rose up from within the crater, locking them in place. Shin Jiao was not affected that much as his physique is already comparable to a nascent realm cultivator. Still, the orb in his dantian was shaken and seems to be affected by the pressure as it is weaker than his own physique. Susu Ling and Qin Lou, on the other hand, have already fainted and are lying on the ground.
Looking at the two women and the child in his arm Shin Jiao felt a little panic in his heart. He didn't expect this to happen as now only he can move. So without a choice, he decided to run and carry them to safety first. He forced himself to fight the spiritual pressure hitting his body. And as he did that, he began to feel that his dantian was about to explode. The pain is truly unbearable but incomparable to the experienced he had with the poison of Mok Dong, so he can still persevere. Then, with great difficulty, he carried the three and jumped down the mountain in a single but heavy bound.
After reaching the forest's ground, Shin Jiao was shocked as he can still feel the pressure even though he is already a couple of kilometers away from the crater of the volcano.
"This is truly a tyrannical pressure! I think this is the aura of a true nascent realm being. This is bad... Did we just wake up a true sovereign in this place?" Shin Jiao thought as he immediately created a hole inside a giant tree stump not too far away and put a protection disk array and a camouflage formation array for the safety of the three people he cared about.
Seeing that the three is safe, Shin Jiao look at the volcano which looks like a mountain from his view. He then gritted his teeth and decided to fight whoever it is that's emitting this great pressure. Because that is their only chance of survival in this place. As he ran up, he began to craft some explosives, weapons, and defensive armor just-in-case. Then he put on his hunting gears and prepares himself for a life and death battle.
His only regret right now is that he wasn't able to create the BARRETT as the materials he had is insufficient and not strong enough to sustain the power that a single bullet possesses. He had designed the BARRETT as an OP weapon that could kill those above him provided he feeds it with sufficient energy for the projectile. The black stone is the main component which makes the BARRETT a truly sturdy rifle that could withstand that crazy amount of energy. In Shin Jiao's heart, he swore to make another one once he gets his hand on enough black stone, at least now he had a fist-size one in his ring. He only needs another of the same size then he is set to make another BARRETT. But this time he's going to upgrade it with an A.I. function just like that of Qin Lou's eye cover.
"Okay, I think this is enough to at least give me a fighting chance. Now, let's see what this thing is." Shin Jiao said as he then rushed towards the top.
Meanwhile…
As Shin Jiao was crafting his gears, at the throat of the volcano a creature is slowly being formed. The unusual thing is that every part of that creature slowly appears as a villager fell into the lava. As the body is being incinerated by the lava a part of that creature will be formed slowly. While this is happening its aura is increasing, at first, it started at the primary stage infant soul realm until it reaches now at the nascent realm. Now its form is almost complete and a pair of large golden eyes blink as its consciousness slowly awakens.
When Shin Jiao reached the top, the whole island is still shaking but the tremor is gradually getting weaker. This means that whatever it is that causes the quake is ready to show itself. Then what surprised Shin Jiao making him dumbfounded is that not a single soul can be seen in the area.
"Did all the villagers jumped down the crater? Why did they do that?" Shin Jiao thought about the bizarre occurrence.
GRROOWWLLL!!!
A loud beast roar answered Shin Jiao's confusion. The roar came from within the volcano's throat, which means that whatever it is that has released that pressure is not a person but a beast, a very powerful beast.
Then Shin Jiao remember something, he actually felt some familiarity with the aura that pressured them. Now he knows why, it's because it came from a strong and powerful beast a beast he didn't want to face, a level 6 king beast.
Shivers run Shin Jiao's spine upon thinking of that day in the endless Daemon forest. Though he caught the beast unprepared at that time, he could not forget the power that a single casual move from it almost took his life. And now he is going to face another one. But this time the beast is in its prime state although it has just awakened but who knows how strong it would be.
GROWL!!!
With another roar, Shin Jiao can now feel the ground shaking as if something big is moving from within the throat of the volcano. A sense of dread suddenly washes over Shin Jiao's body like a tidal wave soaking his back wet with cold sweat. Instead of backing down, Shin Jiao decided to stand his ground ready to face this unknown foe.
Then a pair of giant golden reptilian eyes slowly emerges from the throat of the volcano. Shin Jiao was dumbstruck at the size of the beast, it was colossal. It's like he is looking at a moving tower made of lumps of scales and flesh. Judging from its form it looks like a huge snake with a dragon's head. From this Shin Jiao suddenly remember that on earth there was a legend about dragons that came out of volcanoes and they call it the Fucanglong or the underworld dragons.
"Haha! It seems that I was truly mistaken, in all my thousands of years living in this world this is the first time I have seen a being like you." The Fucanglong suddenly said as it looks down towards Shin Jiao.
Its large eyes are like a glowing ball of golden flame which seems to penetrate deep within his soul. Shin Jiao at this time felt somewhat at a loss, why is there a dragon in this small world? And how come all the villagers are gone and now this dragon is here and alive. So in his own view which is almost unbelievable for him, all the villagers are the Fucanglong itself. It seems like this beast is playing god as it tries to mimic creating its own world and ruling over it.
"You are already in the nascent realms? No wonder I lost that fight… truly a devious plot their young man. Playing like a pig to eat the tiger." The beast said as it gave Shin Jiao a glare.
"You talk too much beast. Let's get this over with." Shin Jiao shouted preparing himself to fight.
"Haha… you are a very impatient young man. Let me introduce myself first before killing you. I am the great Mok Dong, a member of the great dragon clan." The Fucanglong said as it proudly raised its head.
Shin Jiao was dumbfounded, he didn't expect that this colossal beast is Mok Dong whom he thought was already dead. He didn't expect that he would turn into a Fucanglong and seems to be the overlord if this tiny world. But there is something wrong with this picture, as according to Shin Jiao's knowledge if this beast is the overlord and controller of this world Shin Jiao should not be its match and could easily kill him with it thought. But why is it that it needs to fight him so that it could kill him then? With this confusion, Shin Jiao suddenly had an idea.
"Now that you know who I am let me send you to the afterlife without a complete body. Hahaha!" Mok Dong's voice reverberated throughout the surroundings while violent flame began to coil around its body.
Shin Jiao didn't say another word and just take out his gun. This time he would try to charge each bullet he would fire to at least test the defensive capability of Mok Dong's true form.
Pht! Pht! Pht!
The soundless firing of the gun in Shin Jiao's hand as it ejects bullets after bullets from its nozzles almost made Mok Dong stunned. He actually cannot see the bullet as their speed seem to surpass the speed of sound. But then the projectiles seem to be unable to penetrate the coiling flame around its body. They would just turn into liquid metal upon touching the flame. This is actually due to the flame being a spiritual nascent flame, higher energy than those of normal flames which is almost able to disintegrate anything it touches.
"Haha… Your artifact seems to be not as strong as I thought." Mok Dong taunted.
Then it suddenly coils its body like a snake and quickly launched its giant head towards Shin Jiao with its jaws wide open. The razor-sharp fangs would be able to turn Shin Jiao into minced meat in a matter of second if he got caught in it. So with a tap of his foot, Shin Jiao effortlessly took a couple of steps to the side so that he can avoid the huge dragon head.
Although he wasn't hit, Shin Jiao felt a burning sensation as the heat from the flames covering Mok Dong's body still reached him. So without a choice, he moves another couple of steps back making him feel relieved.
"I was too confident at my physique that I forgot that his flames are also that of a nascent realm." Shin Jiao scowled at himself.
But then he quickly retaliates and fires off some rounds at close range. Targeting the backside of the head of the beast, but the same thing happened, Shin Jiao felt discouraged as the bullets were melted when they hit the flames.
"Damn that flame! I wish I could have at least learned some cultivation skills… wait a minute… flame… fire." Shin Jiao had an idea, the nature of elements.
Shin Jiao found out through crafting that the nature of element can cancel each other, which is evident to cultivators. Those who cultivate fire can become fireproof and those who cultivate ice can withstand the cold, and so on. Now with this idea, he decided to put it to the test.
After Mok Dong retracts its head it looks at Shin Jiao with a sneer on its face. It discovers that Shin Jiao is unable to use any cultivation energy in this small world. Though it is confused as to why he can still exert enough power to fight against it, Mok Dong still felt smug at this discovery.
"Hehe, here I go again human!" Mok Dong taunted as it suddenly took in a deep breath as its stomach started to bulge.
Then it suddenly releases a stream of flame from its mouth, its target is Shin Jiao. The high temperature melted the part of the crater that the stream of flame hits, which tunneled a straight line towards the forest. Seeing that its target seem to have been eliminated, Mok Dong stopped his fire breath.
"Is that it? Tsk, Tsk. This is too discouraging I thought that at least that human could put up a fight." Mok Dong said under his breath.
Then all of a sudden a flash of light appear from an inconspicuous rock and suddenly it felt a pang of pain from under its neck. Looking down, Mok Dong noticed that one of his scales has a crack and a hole can be seen in it. The bullet that Shin Jiao shot was able to penetrate the flame shield around Mok Dong's body.
"I knew it would work. It's my turn now!" Shin Jiao said as he quickly jumps out of the rock he is hiding.
"You! You're still alive! Graaahhh!" Mok Dong shouted in annoyance.
It didn't expect for Shin Jiao to be able to penetrate the flame shield around its body. This truly angered it as its dragon's pride could not accept the fact that a human was able to hurt it. So Mok Dong madly rushed towards Shin Jiao.
As the two near each other Shin Jiao release multiple shots directed towards the same spot in the dragon's neck. Seeing this Mok Dong suddenly shifted by instinct as although it could not see the projectiles it could still guess where Shin Jiao would hit it. But to its surprise, the bullets followed its movement and still found their target.
GRAAYAAAHH!!!
Feeling the pain in its neck Mok Dong became truly enraged. Green blood started to trickle down its neck as a fist-sized hole can be seen from a broken scale.
"I will kill you! Puny human!" Mok Dong shouted as now it raised all its body from the volcano splashing some lava everywhere.
Shin Jiao can now clearly see the whole body of the dragon. Its long snake-like body actually has four limbs with three fingers and razor-sharp claws. The red hue of its scales glowed as the light from the sky reflects upon them.
Then like a rushing train, Mok Dong charges once more towards Shin Jiao. This time it's going to use its size to suppress its tiny enemy.
Without a choice, Shin Jiao jumped back and began to run away from it.